Skip to main content

Introduction to Worship for 1/8/2017

By

Matthew 3:13-17

All four gospels feature the baptism of Jesus, suggesting that Jesus’ baptism seems more critical to any telling of Jesus’ ministry than does a story about his birth. (There are many interesting differences between the different gospel accounts, but the fact that it is in all four is like a big sign pointing to the baptism saying “this is important!”)

What made the baptism of Jesus so important? Over the centuries, Christian scholars have filled many pages arguing about just that question. Does it suggest Jesus was impure, and that he needed to “repent” and be cleansed? After all, “repent” was certainly the word John the baptizer used when calling people to baptism. This leads us to the word repent – metanoia in the Greek – and a very common Christian misconception of repentance. Rather than meaning “feeling sorry for doing bad things,” or regret, or confession, metanoia means “go beyond the mind” or “go into the larger mind.” Scholar Cynthia Bourgeault writes that this “‘high teaching’ was Jesus’ central message: the Kingdom of Heaven means reaching beyond black-and-white dualities, into the larger heart and mind of God.” What a different perspective this opens on a familiar Christian word. Rather than “Change your bad ways!” we now hear “Look! Look! God is inviting you to a new way of seeing! Come into the larger mind, see how God sees!” To “go beyond the mind” or “go into the larger mind” is no easy task, but the baptism of Jesus offers us some clues to how we might take steps to “repent.” We could hardly want for a more perfect, physical symbol for metanoia, the “larger mind,” than the opening of the heavens and the descending of God’s Spirit like a dove. But what needed to happen before this event? John the baptizer had to release his old way of seeing the world (Jesus should baptize me) and allow for total reversal of his beliefs (I must baptize Jesus). In verse 14, he “prevented”; in verse 15, he “consented.” Thus, John accepts the invitation into the “larger mind.”

In this way of reading it, the baptism of Jesus is a rite of passage, not to cleanse, but to embody for himself and the world the seemingly upside-down way he will liberate humanity from the prison of sin and small thinking. Through the universal symbol of water, Jesus models his invitation for all to move from unconsciousness (for which water is an archetype) to consciousness – a deeper awareness of just how deeply loved we are by a good and gracious God.

In these turbulent times, the waters of baptism invite us to hope. We hold our breath, the water splashing against our skin. We hold our breath, anticipating what is to come. We hold our breath, we remember our baptism, and we have hope.

Baptism is saturated in hope.

Jesus, raised from the waters of the Jordan River, became the hope for those who followed him, inviting them to discover a new way to live in the world, loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us, realizing that the reign of God is already among us, with us, and within us.

■ How is the church’s expression of baptism similar to Jesus’ baptism in Matthew 3:13–17?
■ When has your participation in the sacraments assured you of your beloved-ness?

Take some time to remember your own baptism, or to share stories with someone about a water memory that is meaningful for you.  In worship this Sunday, we will all have an opportunity to renew the vows made at our baptism, and to experience again the touch of the water.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introduction to Worship for 9/24/2017

By
Bless the Water: This week our creation theme is Water. As an introduction to the theme, we will be looking at the beginning of the second creation story in Genesis. Genesis 2:4b–14 In the first story (Genesis 1:1––2:3), water is there from the beginning, and creation is an act of separating everything else from the waters, and then bringing life to the land—after light and darkness and planets and the sun and moon are brought forth.      In the second story, the land has already been created, and there is a stream that waters all of the land. God creates the human from the land, and we can’t grasp the pun in English, but adam (human or man) is made from adamah (humus or earth). We’re probably most familiar with verses 8 & 9 in this text, when God creates a garden and puts adam into the garden with the green and growing things, including the tree of life and the tree of good and evil. But then the author describes the four rivers that surround the garden, a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Introduction to Worship for 4/2/2017

By
Hope Against All Hope There are disappointing moments in life, times when it seems as though there may be no hope. And then there are those times when we are, literally, beyond hope—times when it would appear that, no matter what, there is no going back. Our story this week reminds us that with God the impossible is, at best, a slight inconvenience. As Paul points out in Romans 8:11, “if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, [this same Spirit] will give life to your human bodies also…” John 11:1–45 The story of the raising of Lazarus from the dead can stretch the limits of our believing. But getting hung up on whether or not the story took place as written can distract us from the great point of the story. We know that John presents us with stories that are not in the synoptic gospels, and which (such as turning massive amounts of water into wine at Cana) seem questionable. But John’s points are not confined by fact; they are about something much more...
Post a Comment
Read more

Introduction to Worship for 2/5/2017

By
Letting the Light Through Jesus tells us that we are salt and light as we seek to live as God’s people in the world. With the Spirit’s help, we offer our gifts and talents to extend the reach of God’s realm. With Isaiah and the psalmist, we learn what it means to practice righteousness and restore beauty in community as we live out the heart of our faith. Matthew 5:13–20 This week, we continue to read from the collection of Jesus’ teachings known as the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus uses powerful images of salt and light as he describes what it means to live according to the ways of God’s realm. The same images of salt and light are used in the Hebrew Scriptures to describe covenant and law. David and his descendants are called a lamp before God. Jesus continues and expands the message found in the scriptures. Jesus tells his followers that at this very moment they are salt – cleansing, preserving, adding flavour. At this moment they are light – revealing what is hidden, allowing ...
Post a Comment
Read more